Who Will Play Squirrel Girl?

Shannon Purser’s Barb on Stranger Things is already a fan favorite. But this new blood feud she’s entering into with Anna Kendrick will surely divide her devoted fan base. What do we mean, blood feud? That’s a reasonable question to ask, and we’ll explain.

"My brother sent me a Squirrel Girl comic because he thinks I should [play her],” Kendrick told the magazine. “I don’t know what Squirrel Girl does other than be half squirrel, but I could be half squirrel!"

Strong words. Sounds like she really wants it bad.

Shannon Purser quickly shot back, a month later in an interview for a different publication without mentioning Kendrick by name (or indeed even tangentially).

"I think Squirrel Girl is just adorable but at the same time is totally boss and completely awesome. I think people need a character like that," Purser told Revelist. "It's easy in the superhero realm to feel like a lot of the female superheroes we see are grown women who are super responsible and know what their purpose is and that kind of thing. Squirrel Girl is a little bit younger and like a real person, trying to figure out her life and then also having to save the world. I love that."

Wow, is Anna Kendrick gonna take that lying down? Seemingly so, since the actress has yet to respond to these brutal attacks on her character. Unless…

My God. This is clearly a threat veiled so deeply that it's almost undetectable. “Don’t throw your hat into the hotly contested Squirrel Girl ring,” Kendrick seems to be saying. “Or I’ll murder you. That’s what I’m definitely talking about with this offhand reference to secrets in TV dramas. Not just making a random observation. I’m going to commit the crime of murder to protect Squirrel Girl, a role that I admittedly know next-to-nothing about.”